As a follow up to the Bengaluru Tech Summit, the Government of Karnataka organised the Blockchain Conclave on 15 February 2018, to discuss and deliberate on this new technology. Taking stage at the event were some of the foremost experts working in the space.

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Here are 7 insights that touched upon some of the key aspects surrounding developments, concerns and predictions in the areas of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

“It is highly desirable to have an ecosystem which is self-driven and trustable in nature and blockchain offers a platform to find solutions for these inherent issues in governance.”

Priyank M Kharge, Minister for Information Technology and Tourism, Government of Karnataka

“We need to understand that it did not happen overnight. Whether the internet revolution or mobile technology. It took its time. It took two to three decades maybe…to have this kind of disruption. So we need to explore and understand this technology [Blockchain] better to really make it a people’s technology. And more importantly we need to understand how to use this technology in governance. How can I use this to give a better delivery system for the citizens.”

Benson Samuel, Chief Technological Officer, Coinsecure

“There seems to be a witch hunt going on [against cryptocurrency]… There seems to be extreme curiosity about it. Most of it is led by the media, and it seems to be evolving very fast. But that’s technology. That’s what it’s supposed to do”.

Anirudh Rastogi, Partner, TRA Law :

“There are a lot of challenges and there will be some problems which might cause a knee-jerk reaction from the government. However, the government does seem like it will regulate the [blockchain] technology in the future to align itself with the global and local developments in this technology.”

Prakash Jayaram, Partner, Ernst and Young :

“There’s a lot of government activity surrounding blockchain and the Government of Karnataka is at the forefront of blockchain. The aim is to get 30 use cases within an year, and subsequently, some use cases maybe taken as fully fledged e-governance projects.”

Sudin Baraokar, Head of Innovation, SBI Bank :

“There is something fundamentally wrong with seeking intervention from [government] authorities to monitor a technology [cryptocurrency] designed to remove as many intermediaries as possible.”

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An unapologetic movie buff with a special admiration for Marlon Brando and Stanley Kubrick, Jeevan is a post graduation student in Journalism and Mass Communication. He hopes to make an impact with his uncompromising reportage some day.